Persona 3

As I look at my game collection I notice a distinct lack of Japanese role playing games. I got a few hours into Final fantasy 12 and was kind of bored. So as I take a break from playing Call of Duty 4 and Burnout Paradise on Playstation network to sink 40 hours so far into Persona 3 ,colour me slightly bemused.

Essentially Persona 3 is a mixture of a dating sim and dungeon-crawler. During the day the main character, a slightly emo looking 16 year old male student (who the player names) ,attends "Gekkoukan High School" and socializes in the surrounding city .It's all very Japanese ,you have to go to school on Saturdays and there is Japanese honorifics in every sentence. And it's all weirdly compelling for an anime nerd such as myself.

To strengthen your Personas for use in combat you need to improve your relationships with classmates ,hang out with people you get to know in the city and join school clubs. This ties the day time activity together nicely with the "Dark Hour" dungeon-crawling when you and the other members of your dorm enter the tower, "Tartarus"at midnight.The journey up Tartarus may sometimes feel like a grind when your waiting for the next boss but each of the fights are just so much fun I was never frustrated. To the more experienced J-rpg player being able to control only the main character in combat may disappoint but for me not having to baby-sit the other 3 NPCs in the fight was a positive.

I like the general art design but some of the Personas and enemies look a bit too weird for my liking and the in game character models' cutesy look detracts a little from the atmosphere when the camera gets in close .That said ,it would be a shame to miss such a great game because of these minor flaws ,so I would recommend this game to even those ,who like myself ,are not huge J-rpg fans. It's the most fun I had with my PS3 so far this year.

How awesome is this game?.. Very awesome.

It's a terrible shame that Atlus (the publishers of Persona 3 in America and Japan) don't publish their games in Europe so us pal gamers have to wait months to get games like this. Thanks Koei for helping us out ,how's about you release Persona 3 : FES for us Europeans too?

I totally agree with the reviewer below me, this game is a definate musthave title!

This game is so unblievably balanced and addictive youll find it hard to ever go back to reality with this game - yes, it really IS that good

The balance between fighting and school life isnt bad at all, you dont keep fighting which takes away the grind of most RPGs but with the school life it adds a whole side to the game. Its wonderful building relationships with characters that are so loveable!

You WILL be emotionally attached!!

Brilliant really is the only word I can use to describe this game. I wasn't convinced at first, as I'm a hardcore Final Fantasy fan (VII being my fave) and I was told by more than one friend that this game was MUCH better than Final Fantasy VII.

Now, I wouldn't say it was better...but it came extremely close. Persona 3 is a truely fantastic game. It's completely original, the artwork is gorgeous and the music is very catchy. At no point did this game bore me, as there's always something to be getting on with.

I actually completed Persona 3 the other day. On my very last save before completion, my in-game clock read 139 hours and 10 minutes. That's insanely long for any video game. Sure, you can reach that time on any Final Fantasy, but only if you're going back to do sidequests and such. That 139 hours of gameplay was purely from the game. I'm so impressed.

This game truely is a must have for any RPG fan. If you're not really a fan of RPGs, I would still suggest to give this game a go. The storyline is awesome, and is more than enough to keep any hardcore gamer coming back for more.

I brought this back in March when it just came out and thought i would give it a go. I got so stuck in i played it for 3 solid days. Its an awesome game and very unique i havent played anything like it before. I suggest if anyone likes playing strategy/action games then this is great. Im still addicted to playing it now and there's all types of new ways to get new social links and create different Persona's.

Persona 3 is a game with two different elements, one being your typical turn-based RPG affair, while the other more akin to the likes of the Sims.

On paper, a game mixing a social interaction theme with turn-based monster slaying seems like a bad idea, however, Persona 3 pulls it off in such a way that you'll find it offers enjoyment above a lot of sole-RPG games.

The game is deep, polished and offers an amazing array of music and sounds. It proves why the PS2 is still the console best for lengthy and deep gaming experiences, even with Next-Gen consoles available.

On the downside, and I hate to point out flaws in such an adorable game, the loading sequences are very frequent to the point where any patient player will get irritated; and the visuals aren't as good as they could be (the PS2's hardware isn't to blame, other games can and do look better on the console).

That aside, I fully recommend this RPG to anyone with even a passing interest in the genre. The price makes it a must-own for any self respecting PS2 owner.